Rare baby humpback sighting raises hopes for New Zealand whale population

A rare baby humpback whale has been spotted in New Zealand waters, prompting conservation officials to speculate Wednesday that the species is making a comeback.

The newborn, spotted in the Cook Strait between the North and South islands, was just the second baby humpback whale reported in New Zealand waters, said Department of Conservation (DOC) officials.

The first was seen in July 2010 and both were spotted during the annual DOC Cook Strait Whale Survey, which is timed for humpback whales' migration from the Antarctic to South Pacific breeding grounds.

"We marveled at how lucky we were to witness such a miracle as a newborn whale. We hope it travels safely to warmer waters," said whale survey leader Nadine Bott.

"The two calves we have seen were likely to have been born prematurely in our waters. The former whalers who work with us on the whale survey assure me they never saw newborn calves in their day," she said.

"The calf we saw yesterday still had faint foetal folds and was about 3 to 4 meters in length. It was probably several days to a week old, but it is hard to be sure. The mother was relatively small and the calf was possibly her first."

The annual whale survey had so far spotted 136 humpback whales, the highest number in its 12 years, with three days of the four- week survey to run.

The previous highest tally was 106 in 2012.

The research assesses humpback whale recovery since commercial whaling ended in New Zealand in 1964.

Bott said the higher number of humpback whales indicated their New Zealand population was "bouncing back."

The sighting came just two days after the whale survey team had a remarkable sighting of rare white humpback whale identified as being the famous Migaloo, usually seen off Australia. Endi